Day-Old Bread and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

February 22, 2013

I finished cooking, served lunch, and my husband had a first taste of a dish I was cooking for the first time. My dear spousal unit is my usual test subject, and he knows to be honest. This is no time to lovingly lie to protect my feelings. My readers count on him.

I’m still not sure what he was saying. It’s enough to know that it was good. My husband is not always easy to please, so passing the test is already an accomplishment. I only made this dish once. A hole in one, so to speak.

This might look like an odd combination at first sight, but was I ever surprised that this is a traditional dish somewhere in the world, and even more surprised that I also loved the combination of textures, ingredients and flavors.

It started when Sargento – a name you’ve seen many times in this blog already – invited me again to pick one of their recipes and run with it. It’s one of my favorite things to do, it gives me new ideas, I work with a great product, and it lets me adapt them to my and my family’s liking.

This time the changes were subtle. I added pepper, because when it comes to vegetables, the more the merrier. I used cream instead of milk for a creamier, richer flavor, and I added more cheese, because, cheese!

We often have brunch on weekends at home, since we tend to get up a bit later than on weekdays. This is the perfect dish to serve. It doesn’t require a lot of work and served with some salad it will sustain you for many hours. So I never did figure out what dish it was that was just like this, I’ll find out some day, I guess.

Cook: Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove the aluminum foil and top with the broccoli, and sprinkle the rest of the cheese. Return to the oven and cook until the cheese melts [5-10 mins].

Serve: Remove from the oven, loosen the edge with a knife and let it rest for a couple of minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm.

Notes & Nutrition Facts

I like my broccoli crispy, if you want yours softer you may cover with the aluminum foil the next time you return to the oven, you may need to cool longer.

Nutrition Facts

Day-Old Bread and Cheese Breakfast Casserole

Amount Per Serving

Calories 484Calories from Fat 234

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 26g40%

Saturated Fat 14g70%

Cholesterol 195mg65%

Sodium 1116mg47%

Potassium 337mg10%

Total Carbohydrates 40g13%

Dietary Fiber 1g4%

Sugars 11g

Protein 21g42%

Vitamin A23.3%

Vitamin C21%

Calcium46.5%

Iron13.9%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

This post has been sponsored by Sargento, but the opinions here are 100% mine and have not been vetted or revised by the sponsor.

What a great way to use up day-old bread! My grandmother and mother always made bread and butter pudding with leftover bread. Once upon a time, nothing was thrown out unless absolutely necessary. We are such a throw-away society now.
It’s great to have a recipe tester right in the house. I have two but sometimes their opinions differ, which is confusing.